If--Then what would you get?

For the sake of discussion, if you just happened to own an INON UFL165AD fisheye and if you just happened to own an INON 105AD wide angle and if you just happened to own an INON D2000 strobe--if--then what digi cam and which housing would you match them to? If.

N

hmm... interesting dilemma Nemrod The AD mount w/a lenses make it interesting as I would have said the Canon G9 with the Ike housing+short port if they were 67mm screw mounts.

If your goal is finding a good w/a Point & Shoot, look for something that has a lens equivalent of 28mm at the widest. Even then, I think you get a slight vignetting with a 28mm lens. Or that is what I vaguely remember with my old Canon S70 (28mm - wide) and borrowing a friends[-] Inon Fisheye [/-] 105AD+dome. [correction: I think my friend had the UWL-105AD lens + dome and not the 165AD fisheye]

Panasonic has a number of cameras with a pretty wide lens, but none of them I think have any manual modes (aperture/ shutter controls). I think most of the cameras in the market today tend to be only 35mm equivalent at the widest lens setting.

If you go to the Inon America web page, then products, then mount bases for canon housings (or fuji, nikon, oly, sony), each page shows what housings take the AD mount. Canon S-70 takes the 28 AD mount, which is different from AD mount. Even 28 mm (equiv to ~35mm underwater) is not wide, that's why the wet lenses are popular. The oly 5050 is not 28 mm AIR, and there can be vignetting on some housings (?), but the type 2 Inon gives great results.

How far do you plan to take your photography Nemrod? I am so glad I chose a camera with raw and manual settings, or I would have had to upgrade in less than a year. All three p&s I like take different mounts, that's why I'm still with the one I started with.

halemano - good point. Forgot that the S70 uses that 28AD mount and not the standard AD mount.

Yep i have the S70 with UWL100-28AD+dome.
UFL cannot be used.

I think the Fuji F30 (old) & Canon A640 can be used with the UFL.
The F30 would be my choice.

Halemano- I totally agree with you.
I am happy i bought the S70, with manual focus for macro,raw and 28mm.
Camera is 3-4 years old now. All recent models have not appealed to me, lack of Raw or unable to use my UWL-100 28AD wet lens as most of the recent releases are 35mm.

I flooded my S70 last year, ended up buying another one due to lack of suitable alternatives.

Hoping that the new canon 2008 models will have 28 mm so i can use my UWL.

Would have liked a G9 , but all my attachments are not suitable for the G9.

Thanks for the infos. I just want a camera to take snap shots---not serious work at the quality that can be enlarged for cover type stuff. I just want to document some adventures. I like to shoot pics of the diver interacting with the environment.

I understand the raw modes, I fully understnd the mechanics of photography, took courses in college, Geologist have to know how to use a camera, it is part of our field work, I have a number of Nikons and have owned two Nikonos IIIs and an Aqua Video Super VHS camcorder--lol. The point is that I am not really new to photography and I read you guys in this forum all the time.

My needs are less than a serious amateur:

1. Wide angle so I can get close
2. like to photo divers interacting with marine world
3. Like to dive wrecks
4. Just want simple to use snappy camera with good email, web page and 4X6 print results
5. I am fluent with Adobe Photoshop and a few others---really
6. camera must be compact and outfit must pack in a small satchel or case

Now, I actually already have this equipment and I have it on the Oly 770SW with PT035 housing. Now, the reason I asked the original question, this equipment is not cheap and when you hold these items in your hand they look like very high quality and should be capable pieces when teamed with a capable camera so I was hoping to mate them up with a more capable camera/housing than the 770 rig --something with a little more manual control and a little better imaging capability, more low or natural light capability.

I realize also it seems these lenses are not widely known or used in the North American community with more emphasis placed on SLRs. I follow that but do not need that much capability and do not want the huge size. I was spoiled ny the Nikonos III and it's compact size and amphibious nature.

The AD lenses are more compact than the Inon thread on lenses. These use a bayonet mount and the diameter of the rear lens element is not huge. I believe they are intended to use with smaller diameter lenses as are found on the compact digi snaps. I wonder how they would work with the larger P5100 or a G7 etc.?

What does the AD mean? Sure wish the instructions were not entirely in Japanese or Chinese or Martian.

Thank you.

N

The Nikon P50 would be great, it starts at 28mm, has manual controls and is pretty small, but there's still no housing for it.

I think that the P5100 would be a very good option. It's about the same size as the canon A7x0/A5x0 series (quite a bit smaller than the G7/9). The lens is only 3.5x, you don't run into the lens port problems like in the Canon G's. I have a P5000 (10Mp predecessor to the P5100) with no housing yet - but I recently discovered THIS one in addition to the Ike and fantasea options. I bought The P5000 becasue I liked what I saw in the IQ and once I held one in a store it just felt so right. Coming from a Coolpix P4 the menu system was a piece of cake.

There's a guy on wetpixel that uses the P5000 in the Ike housing with Inon 67mm add on lenses (sacked macros and WA) and strobes (Z240 & D180). HERE is a link to his Flickr if you want to see what the setup is capable of. P5100 will be similar as the additions don't seem to be very major.

Of the three housings, the most compact will be the Fisheye or the Fantasea. The Fisheye has connectors for mounting Fiber optic cables to it, it can be had for $150-$200 less if you don't want the Nikonos bulkhead, and it has a 67mm theaded lens port (but you need the AD for your lenses). The Fantasea costs about 1/4 the price and might be a little smaller. This one has a 46mm thread on the lens port, but Ikelite makes a AD lens mount adapter for their housings (LINK) that fits on around the lens port. Richard at Reef measured the ID of the adapter for me at 55.8mm. The OD of the Fantasea lens port for my P4 is 54.2mm (at the glass) - 55.5mm (near the rest of the housing). I don't have the measurement for the P5000 housing but it looks to be the same so I'm pretty sure that it could work (might require a minor mod to get it to stay in place).

The Inon site shows 19 housings from 5 manufacturers for 26 cameras that all take an AD mount, without any mod. Third party housing manufacturers may also offer their own AD mounts.

If you only want to talk Nikon, those housings are CP1, CP2 & CP4, for CP4100, CP4200/5200 & CP5900/CP7900 respectively. The AD mounts for those housings use the Optical D cable, unfortunately not the same Optical D cable as Nemrod has.

Given Nemrod's needs (less than a serious amateur), an existing and inexpensive p&s/housing requiring no mods and msrp of $125 for the mount and cable would seem to me the way to go, no matter the camera brand.

Thanks again for the infos.

I wound up with the Oly 770SW (as I mentioned earlier) not really for an underwater camera but because I was destroying cameras and cell phones at a prodigous rate on the boat and in the kayak. I wanted something that was easy to hang on my neck or in a pocket and could live in the real world--however--I realize this camera has shortcomings. That is why I am now asking for opinions on something that could use my equipment--UFL165AD, 105AD and Inon D2000 strobe. To my knowledge Ikelite housing do not support that strobe. The Fantasea housing might work with a better Nikon/Canon/Oly. I see they have the very nice Nikon P5100 housing. The question there is will that housing adapt to my lenses. These lenses are not threaded, AD lenses are bayonet mount only. A little vignetting would be acceptable. The UFL165AD has a max angle of 165 degrees, even cut back to 120 to 130 degrees it is still a VERY wide angle lens.

Well, anyways, thanks for the good efforts. I will do some more research. Someday I will scan some of my old photos and you will see that while I am not interested in being a serious amateur, many of my Nikonos and slr photos are quite good.

I also have an Ikelite housing for one of my Nikon FM cameras and the amazing Nikon fisheye lens, a 18MM and a 20MM and 24MM rectilinear. I just really don't won't to do that type of photography again, I just want to document fun diving with a small, simple but functional rig. Thanks again.

N